Take the world’s most paranoid/delusional Stalinist regime, add nuclear ambition and stir. Turn the whole mess over to a 29-year old who, by rights, should be playing video games in his parents’ basement; what’s the worst that could happen?

This, for starters, from the Telegraph (UK):

30 North Korean officials involved in South talks die ‘in traffic accidents’

AFP/Getty Images

In its annual study, Amnesty International claimed that in addition to the 30 who died in purges last year, a further 200 were rounded up in January this year by the State Security Agency as Pyongyang carried out the transfer of power from Kim Jong-il, who died of an apparent heart attack in December, and his 29-year-old son, Kim Jong-un.

Of those 200, Amnesty said, some were apparently executed and the remainder were sent to political prison camps. The gulag system presently contains an estimated 200,000 people in “horrific conditions,” the group said.

North Korea has a habit of executing bureaucrats who are perceived to have failed the regime, even though they are often merely carrying out the orders of higher-ranking officials or members of the ruling family.

In 2010, Pak Nam-gi, the former head of the finance department of the Workers’ Party, was reportedly executed by firing squad for the catastrophic attempt to reform the impoverished nation’s currency. The result was rampant inflation and food shortages became even more acute.

The 30 men executed for failing to improve Pyongyang’s ties with Seoul are considered scapegoats for the new low point in inter-Korean ties.

I recently blogged about the Pudgy Young Leader’s horrible day at the amusement park. It’s horrifying to think what happened to the workers who failed to run their empty amusement park in a manner consistent with the Juche Idea.

An oldie but a goodie: ‘The Un’ vs The One
Cross-posted at my blog.